copracr

I'm looking to shoehorn a LS into a 2004 e46 BMW 325i. I'm not new to swapping power trains around, so I know what I'm in for and how much work it will be, but I'm light on info about the Chevy LS series engines. My goal is an honest 300hp daily driver with a budget of around $2000 for the swap. Obviously no Ford engine(which I would be familiar with) will fit that bill.

I have done a little research and found that 5.3l's can be picked up complete with auto trans for under a $1000, and a 6.0l is just a little more. I guess I would need to know which vehicles and year ranges I would be looking to score an engine and trans from that would be suitable for a swap and the power I'm looking for.

Any help or advice would be great, Thanks

superdave84

pretty much any LS engine will be in that range. Although, technically the 5.3 isn't an "LS", exactly, but most people refer to all of the current generation motors as "LS" motors. a healthy 5.3 will have over 300hp at the crank.

I am not 100% sure, but I believe the BMWs need a front sump oil pan instead of the more traditional rear sump in most GM vehicles. A rear sump will hit your crossmember. (I would check into this though because I am not sure about a BMW swap. I happen to have a front sump pan I took off my GTO engine

Exhaust will probably be tight too. I think you can find F-body or GTO exhaust manifolds that will fit, or maybe some headers made for your application.....that can get REAL expensive though. Headers for my car were like $900. I opted to use headers for another application and they worked. I paid $400 for those.

Look at Bow Auto in NH. They pull these things out and sell them complete...very reasonable prices on 5.3s and 6.0s

copracr

I figured exhaust would be a headache. I've read a couple E46 swap threads and they went with custom made full length headers, but that would be overkill for me and blow the budget sky high). I'm hoping I can score a set of factory style manifolds that will aim the exhaust in a direction that will work.

I already seen an oil pan Holley makes to handle that.

Thanks for the heads up on Bow Auto, I'll check them out

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

Depending on what you need for an exhaust, Hooker makes block hugger shorties with a center dump. I paid about 250 new from Summit.

A 5.3 will make a good driver, but I'd get the 6.0 if its not out of the budget. When you decide you want more hp, the 6.0 will be able to handle more cam and make more power without the drag car idle.

superdave84

I don't think Holley has a pan that is a front sump. Look into it and be sure that the Holley pan will work for you. It's a very expensive thing to be wrong about. I think the Holley pan is $400+

MillsMotorvation

Ive found a 99 up chevy van has a more affordable price if you want to get a running setup with harness...ect. Also you can score a 4L80E if that's on your list.

copracr

What year ranges would I look for?

And is the 4l80e physically larger than a 4l60/65e?

Shappa

He will need a rear sump like the holley pan or champ ls1 pan.
I'm doing an ls1 into an e46 now and i got alot of help from Vorshlag's build thread http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7939
Vorshlag also makes a swap kit if you want to make it easy on yourself.

geoff17

Yes the 4l80e is physically larger than the 60/65e by a good bit, but also MUCH stronger. However if your only wanting an honest 300hp then a 4l60e will be fine for you.

brewster240

iTrader: (1)

putting the engine in is the easy part.

making all the electrical stuff work sucks.

e46 uses a bus system, that is tied into the factory dme (ecu) and without it, nothing will work right. there are different ways around it, but none are as simple as most other vehicle people swap ls into.

SWAGON

I am not familiar with the E46 setup but I used this rear sump pan in my E39. Have you been on bimmerforums to search for E46 swaps. I don't recall seeing any. The wiring was easy on my OBDII 98 E39 btw so not sure why and E46 would be harder. I used the E67 standalone ECU kit from GMPP and the only thing that needed to be done on the body harness was to splice the two black wires on the EWS box under the dash.

brewster240

iTrader: (1)

because an e46 is wired differently.

it came out later, and has newer technology.

copracr

For wiring I'm planning on keeping the stock DME/PCM and running a tach signal off the front of the crank and plumbing in a coolant temp. As long as the tach and coolant gauge work I'll be happy. I'm not sure if the ABS will still work but I can live without that.
The a/c I will try with the stock wiring and if it doesn't work I'll try and find relay power from the control in the cabin. And if that doesn't work I'll hook it up old school with some pressure switched and a switch.

mapleridge

a member on here has a pretty well documented build thread. His name is bikearmblair or something similar.